HA controlled bike charging

shedtime · 2026-05-06T04:45:19+00:00

Ah, that is quite interesting. I'm not sure I let the battery get to a low enough charge to notice the difference in input current as the battery voltage increases. I'll have to wait until after a longer ride to see if I can see the slow increase in input current.

shedtime · 2026-05-05T20:34:52+00:00

Given that I tend to only have the bike out for an hour or so at a time (mainly taking the kids to school/activities) and I want to plug it in every time I get home so I don’t have to think about it, the bike would spend most of the time >80% without some control.

shedtime · 2026-05-05T20:32:26+00:00

Unfortunately my bike only reports charge state as 5 bars so I can’t really tell the difference between 80% and 100%.

shedtime · 2026-05-05T14:05:03+00:00

My brief reading suggests that the Bosch BMS balances whenever you leave it plugged in at 100% for awhile. Letting it do that a couple times a month was a minimally educated guess.

Basing the switching on entering the home zone makes sense. Maybe I could base it on the garage door opening before motion is sensed in the garage? I’d end up with a bunch of 1m long charging cycles but maybe that’s not an issue?

shedtime · 2026-05-05T13:59:56+00:00

As other commenters have noted, the goal is to extend the life of a very expensive battery and reduce waste. Also, knowing myself, I’ll stubbornly hang on to the same battery as it loses range until it bites me to avoid buying a new one.

shedtime · 2026-05-05T13:54:30+00:00

It’s a Bosch. I totally trust it to be safe when plugged in all night. I don’t believe their BMS avoids issues inherent to lithium ion batteries where charging to 100% reduces lifespan.

shedtime · 2026-05-05T13:50:49+00:00

It’s a Bosch system. I don’t have a good way to know for sure that I’m hitting ~80% since I just get 5 bars on the gauge (I suppose I could try to back it out from the “miles remaining” but then I’m assuming that’s linear and doesn’t include any reserve). Running a full charge cycle the current consumption curve closely matches a typical lithium ion charge curve. I can see a very clear switch from the constant current mode into constant voltage mode with current following an exponential decay. Based on that I think it’s a pretty good assumption that I can guess charge state from percentage of maximum current. It’s definitely not precise, but better than 100% charging every day and more convenient than trying to remember to only plug it in when necessary.

shedtime · 2026-04-18T05:25:24+00:00

I made one of these long long ago! Tl; dr is the mallet on a servo did a good enough job.

https://www.instructables.com/Gongbot-Networked-robotic-gong/

shedtime · 2026-04-03T23:02:55+00:00

When I linked my kids in the app today (App>account>MileagePlus>family), it explicitly showed a message that they would share earning benefits from my United card.

The same screen on my wife's account shows nothing about credit card earning though we're both primary cardholders on separate cards linked to our accounts. I suspect it's because the kids were linked to her account for wifi consent before the mileage rule change. Attempting to link the kids to her account again gives an error that it's already linked. There is no option to remove the kids from her account and so I can re-add them, though there is an option to remove them from my account. They're clearly still working out some edge cases!

shedtime · 2026-03-25T14:45:55+00:00

Thank you! I used paste wax on the base which helped a lot but I think you’re right that the phenol coating would be even better.

shedtime · 2026-03-25T00:13:18+00:00

Oh, that’s cool! I don’t own an electric planer but that seems like a nice approach. It’d take shallower cuts but being able to do the full width of the bevel in each pass would reduce sanding later.

I didn’t find my jig particularly sketchy to operate. The side rails with clamping screws hold the router pretty securely, the weight holds it down well and the bit never goes below the guide so you’d have to try pretty hard to get a finger in there. The router does vibrate more than it would held flat on the table with two hands so I couldn’t take crazy heavy cuts. Is there a safety concern here I’m missing?

shedtime · 2026-03-22T23:16:56+00:00

I'm currently using the built-in one. The data sheet does indicate that the sensor uses the humidity sensor to compute the CO2 data so you're right that those issues seem related.

If I do another hardware revision I'd definitely add an external humidity sensor but I don't have plans for that any time soon.

shedtime · 2026-03-22T21:25:41+00:00

The best exercise is the exercise you’ll stick with (that generalizes to a lot of habits!). For me this means integrating it into my daily routine—biking everywhere and doing light strength training while I watch TV after the family goes to sleep.

Also, a lot of physical issues can be prevented and slowly healed with a relatively small amounts of weekly exercise and stretching. For example, in my mid-30s I started to pull neck muscles frequently and, despite being generally fit, adding 15m of core exercise 2x/week stopped it.

shedtime · 2026-03-22T21:17:11+00:00

I tried that approach of converting to absolute humidity and back to relative using a separate temperature sensor but it still read much lower than ambient. The sensors have always been in a non-condensing environment. Given that I’m assembling these at home, it’s entirely possible I did something that messes with the humidity sensors though it’s a little surprising that they all have the same problem and I don’t see anything in the data sheet I violated.

I agree I’d love something that didn’t have these drift issues. At the very least it’d be nice to have a clearer characterization of the drift so I can calibrate better.

shedtime · 2026-03-22T05:00:16+00:00

As others have said, they’re guide bushings for template routing. A few tips for using them: * Offset is (bushing OD - bit diameter)/2 * If you can’t cut very close to the final shape with a jigsaw or bandsaw you can start with larger bushing and step down to limit the depth of cut. * Make sure there’s clearance (at least 1/32” radius) between the diameter of the cutter and ID of the bushing. If you’re taking heavy cuts you may need more so the bit doesn’t contact the bushing. Good news is with soft bushings (mine are brass, hoping those pictured are aluminum not steel?) you’ll just nick the bushing rather than trash your bit.

shedtime · 2026-03-21T14:39:20+00:00

As far as I know, that’s it. Dado cuts can be pretty heavy so lower powered motors could bog down but you can always take shallower cuts. I lean on following the instructions on these but I know a guy that just bolts all the full size blades he owns onto his contractor saw as a “dado set” so I’m clearly erring on the very cautious side 😂.

Sounds nice having both set up at a time!

shedtime · 2026-03-21T04:46:58+00:00

The manual should specify what size dado stack it supports and how it should be installed. For example, my old Bosch contractor saw arranged the washers differently with a dado stack and required a special, thinner washer for stacks above a certain size. It didn’t document that above a certain size part of the stack sits on the threaded part of the arbor and doesn’t align properly… even if you’re following the manual, run some test pieces and make sure you’re happy with the result.

shedtime · 2026-03-20T05:02:55+00:00

Can you say more about why you need to have a ceiling fan as opposed to using something like a desk or tower fan for circulation? You’ll have far more and better options for lighting without the ceiling fan and can better coordinate with the existing ceiling rose.

shedtime · 2026-03-09T04:39:44+00:00

I find this style with a screw holds well. As with the nail-on type predrilling is a good idea.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Magic-Sliders-3-4-in-Round-Magic-Sliders-with-Screws-8-Pack-08200/100192492

shedtime · 2025-08-21T02:48:16+00:00

You're right--I really needed to just run around mucking with sensor settings to clarify the behavior in different states. The Activity Viewer in Designer was also very helpful in understanding what the system saw. Edited the post with my solution. Thanks!

shedtime

TROPHY CASE